Love is Patient
Love is patient,
Love is kind.
It does not envy,
It does not boast,
It is not proud.
It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
But rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
Always trusts,
Always hopes,
Always perseveres.
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Have you ever just stared at this scripture and wondered why it’s in the order that it is? We have this verse framed in our bedroom and I find myself reading through the lines often. I intentionally placed this framed truth in our room because I knew I was going to need this reminder…often. My room is becoming more and more the place I retreat to to recharge, realign my thoughts, correct my heart posture, give other perspectives a fighting chance against my own, reach for Him. I have grown so much between the walls of this space (and the lines of these verses) and so I knew that this scripture needed to be sitting where I could see it.
Love is patient.
That first line. In the past I would fly by it as I recited the scripture. But God brought it back to me a few weeks ago as I was trying to parent one of our sons. For the rest of that day I found myself only quoting the first line love is patient over and over in my head. I had realized that while I have always worked to be unconditional with my love, my love was rarely patient.
A love that is patient is one that does not feel the need to fix immediately or move ahead too quickly. A love that is patient can slow down for the person trying to keep up with them. A love that is patient is not easily shaken by the pace of this world nor is it quickened by external pressures. A love that is patient is easy to walk beside. A love that is patient makes for a good listener. A love that is patient is able to look at the bigger picture and still see the beauty of the small piece standing before them.
Our world has always struggled with defining “love” and what makes it true. For fun I looked up the definition of love and these were a few descriptions I found according to Webster:
strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
an assurance of affection
unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another
There were more definitions but all carried a similar torch to those above. General statements that honestly felt watered down after reading 1 Corinthians. The scripture doesn’t just give you the literal meaning of the word, it outlines what love is. Most of us have heard the famous saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The Bible doesn’t just hand us love and expect that to hold us over, no…it tells us what love is and how to live it out.
Jesus lived it out.
His followers tried to imitate it.
Paul wrote down what love is.
What are you doing with it?
Are you living out the love that you remember being given as a child? Are you trying to make up for the love you were never shown? Do you take your love lessons from movies, shows, podcasts, books? Are you guessing at what love even looks like?
I think we often live out the love we have been shown by others but only when we are operating at our best. On hard days we tend to live out a default version of love that usually stems from however love was shown in our childhood. How often do we live out what love is according to scripture? We read the stories of how Christ saw and loved others but do we strive to live out love as he did?
In this life we will have trouble - as I mentioned in a previous reach - Jesus was clear about this. You will have good days and bad ones, days with a mountain of tasks to tend to and days with maybe only a few. The definition of what love is should not be based on your circumstances and how you are feeling. If you want to bake a cake, you must use the ingredients necessary in order for the cake to rise and taste delicious. As with love…if you want to live out love, you need to bear in mind all that is needed for love to truly be love in it’s purest form. It requires more intentionality, a slower pace and humble heart walking closely with the Father…but wow the beauty that will come from such work will be worth it.
If I can challenge you to write this scripture down and place it somewhere in your home…maybe in the car…maybe at your office…somewhere you will see it often. Memorize each line, marinating on the significance of not only the order but application for your own life. Maybe you need to write down the name of someone who is tough to love in the way in which a line describes.
If you don’t know where to begin in loving that person…pray for them and ask God to help you see them as He does. Do whatever it takes to not only learn what love truly is, but how to truly live it out.
Love is patient.
Who do you need to be more patient with?
Love is kind.
Who needs some kind words from you today?
Love does not envy.
Who do you tend to compare yourself to and wish they weren’t so… and you were more…?
Love does not boast.
Who do you wish appreciated you more, so you tend to uplift yourself in front of them?
Love is not proud.
Who do you feel challenged or questioned by?
How could you show more humility when they show arrogance?
Love is not rude.
Who can you be more gracious towards?
What polite words can show more grace?
Love is not self-seeking.
Who in your life needs more of Jesus and less of you?
Love is not easily angered.
Who can you love by pressing pause with your words and pray more before you speak?
Love keeps no record of wrongs.
Who do you need to forgive for the wrongs they have committed?
Love does not delight in evil.
How can you carry the light into places and in front of people who allow too much darkness?
Love rejoices with the truth.
Who needs to hear more truth—spoken with the motive of love?
Love always protects.
Who needs to feel your shoulder beside them?
Love always trusts.
Who do you doubt because they have hurt you?
Because of Jesus, you can forgive and love cautiously.
Love always hopes.
How can you bring more hope in the lives of those around you?
Love always perseveres.
Who can you walk beside as you choose to face challenges with confidence?
Love never fails. It is not easy to live out, but when done well, it will never fail. For while the world may fail you, your Father in Heaven never will. Keep reaching for Him, living out the love He designed.
